


Ca-caw!

by Floranna



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Wintersend Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 18:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10341450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floranna/pseuds/Floranna
Summary: Birds are a source of terror. (no, really, stop laughing!)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [QueenGarbage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenGarbage/gifts).



> I didn't manage to find a beta reader so all mistakes are mine. D=

Herah stood in front of a mirror, braiding her hair. She had redone it thrice already, each time finding some little imperfection that ruined it completely. Finally she tied the end of it with a purple ribbon, and looked at the reflection critically. The hair was perfect, but now was time for makeup.

She spread her meagre stash of cosmetics on the table and started to apply them. Herah applied the kohl she had stolen – ahem – loaned from Dorian and smudged it a bit on her eyelid, trying to make her eyes look smoky and mysterious. Last time she had done this, Josie had blushed and given her that special smile. Herah fought to keep her blush down. Now wasn’t time for that, she needed to see her own colours first.

At last she put on her favourite lipstick, the colour of the plum, and smiled at her image. She looked good, even if she said it herself.

Herah walked at her dresser, and picked up one of her fancier dresses. It was cream coloured and ended just above her knees with a low, loose neckline and long wide sleeves. She loved how it made her skin look and she knew it was casual enough without making her look like she hadn’t made any effort for this. It came with a belt that Herah used to bunch up the upper portion of it, to make it look like a slight breeze could move the fabric and bare her breasts to the world. It was sexy, without making her look trashy. Or like a cow, she remembered the old insult with a pang of pain.

The shoes were another thing. She and other women in Valo-kas had always had to struggle to find good looking, feminine shoes that weren’t, well, ugly. Lot of the merchants and shoemakers refused to serve qunari, and those who did tended to only offer them the work that was subpar at the best.

Thank the Maker for the Inquisition’s resources, Herah thought warmly and picked up her most beautiful boots. The leather was supple and soft, and had beautiful golden stitching in the shape of roses. It had a bit of a heel, but not enough to make her tower over people more than usual, but just enough to make her legs look amazing.

When she was done with putting the shoes on, there was a loud caw at her balcony. Herah raised her head and saw a large crow looking straight at her. Herah blinked slowly, surprised. It looked like one of Leliana’s birds, but those tended to stay near her or in the rookery. Feeling suspicious, she went towards it and gazed down, up, left and right at the balcony. No, there was no red-haired spymaster hanging at the wall. Still undeterred, she walked at the door and opened it with force, hoping to catch a possible lurker.

Only thing that happened was a loud crash and a cuff mark on the doorknob.

Feeling slightly stupid, she went back to the balcony. The crow was still there, but now it looked like it was laughing at her. Herah frowned and saw that it had a small discoloration spot at the top of its beak. It was definitely one of Leliana’s crows. “Shoo”, she commanded, but the bird just fluffed up a bit and let out a loud caw.

Suspicious now, she flapped her arm at it and repeated louder: “Shoo!” The damned bird only hopped few times to its left side and cawed even louder. Squinting at it, she slowly and deliberately closed the balcony doors. She half expected for it to rush in, but no, it just tilted its head and gave a sad caw.

Shaking her head, Herah turned around. The spymaster hadn’t been happy when she had started to court Josie, but she had eased up a bit after the severe threats at the beginning when Herah had been so spooked that she had thought she might need to insist on hiring a food taster. At the end of that ordeal Leliana had been giggling every time she had seen her, which hadn’t helped Herah’s nerves all. But now Herah didn’t need for the old paranoia to set back in.

Varric wasn’t at his usual spot, but a nearby servant could tell her that she had seen him outside, behind the tavern. Smiling, Herah gave her her thanks and started to move straight there, grinning slightly. She had an idea what he was doing there, and maybe she would even get to tease Varric a little. He deserved it, after all of the comments and _encouragement_ he had given when she was still mulling over whether to start courting Josephine or not. Some of them, even when meant kindly, had been mildly traumatizing.

There he was, sitting on a stump and pretending to write in his notebook, but stealing glances at Cassandra while she was hacking at the practice dummies. To be fair, she was doing the exact same thing, with most of her hits being slightly off the mark.

Herah wanted to tease them so badly, but there was no time to be wasted now. But tomorrow was another day… Her grin widened enough that when Varric looked at her, he straightened and gave her a _look_. Herah tried to look innocent, but basing on Varric’s face she was fooling no one.

Unfortunately, time was a-wasting. “Do you have them?” she said excitedly. Varric dropped the wary look off his face and rolled his eyes, smiling slightly.

“Yes, of course. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find qunari candy here in south?”

Herah snorted while carefully opening the bag. “Actually, I do. And most of it is utter crap”, she said while plopping one of them in her mouth. She let out a loud moan. It tasted exactly like what her father had made when she was small and... not so small. She couldn’t wait to give Josie these, she had such a sweet tooth and Herah wanted to give her something that was quintessentially part of her own past. “But I knew if anyone could do it, it would be you.”

Then a bloody crow flew on her shoulder and tried to snap one of the candies from her bag. Herah let out a shriek and gave out a small mind blast in reflex. The crow flopped on to earth and gave out a miserable croak.

At her side Varric had pulled a small knife from who-knows-where and Cassandra was facing her with her sword prepared. While she looked at the crow bemusedly, she saw a familiar discoloured spot on its beak. It was the same Maker-damned bird from the balcony! After few seconds of stunned silence, Varric was the first to let out a loud guffaw. Cassandra started to laugh immediately after him, but Herah could feel her face darkening in embarrassment. “That damned bird startled me!” she tried to defend herself but that only made them laugh even louder.

In the end, she decided to save herself some dignity and left, stepping carefully over the still insensate bird. She still had to go get the rest of the snacks from the kitchen.

***

Josie was waiting for her in the garden, sitting on one of the benches, wearing her usual ruffled shirt but a new, longer skirt and an over-the-shirt corset. Of the same shade as Herah’s own plum lipstick, she noted amusedly and was completely unable and unwilling to stop smiling goofily. Josie looked beautiful, and when she noticed Herah’s arrival she darkened a bit and tucked a lock behind her ear and stood up.

Herah thought that her heart would burst and she would start floating in the air, simultaneously. She opened her mouth to say something, hopefully romantic, when her eyes fell on a particularly familiar, but now scruffy looking crow standing on the bench, letting out a loud, smug caw.

“Is that bloody thing sentient!?” she screeched and immediately wished to for the earth to swallow her whole at Josie’s confused expression.

She could swear she heard some disturbingly familiar giggling behind some of the pillars, but didn’t turn to check in the midst of her stuttering explanations.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't resist a slight Cassandra/Varric hints, it's a weakness.


End file.
